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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237263">What A Birdbrain!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenusVellichor/pseuds/VenusVellichor'>VenusVellichor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Forest Never Sleeps [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Animal Attack, Bathtub Sex, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Cleaning, Dreams and Nightmares, Fairy Tale Elements, Family Dinners, Future Fic, Hangover, Hypothermia, Kissing, Living Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Magic, Magical Lydia Martin, Mystery, Nobility, Pack Family, Pizza, Poisoning, Protective Derek, Riding, The Author Regrets Nothing, Vomiting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:06:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,292</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237263</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenusVellichor/pseuds/VenusVellichor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Beacon Hills has always been a strange town, never more so than now, as Scott and his pack unravel the mysteries they had dragged back home. As Scott learns about his supernatural family history and Lydia unravels the mysteries that her great-aunt left her, Allison and Stiles up the ante and decide to hunt down magic artifacts. Derek and Jackson learn to express their feelings, and Isaac finally comes into his own when he opens an apothecary in town. Now that the pack is back together, can they still share their inner lives, or are some heritages too precious to tell?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Hale/Jackson Whittemore, Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Forest Never Sleeps [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What A Birdbrain!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Everything is dead, dark, and depressing, so yours truly decided to fix it. Behold part one of The Forest Never Sleeps: original fairy tales, shameless sex comedies, and mysteries centuries in the making.</p>
<p>Note: The next in the series will switch between Lydia explaining how she got the Peregrine Folio to Derek, Stiles, and Jackson, and Scott, Isaac, and Allison visiting the barony of Castille. Also, there will be a magic manor house that can travel through different dimensions called Hexenschloss which Scott is gifted while in the Pyrenees. Hexenschloss means Witch Castle in german.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Usually the preserve was quiet when Scott went for nighttime runs. That was why the squawking he heard deeper in the woods made him wary in the first place. Of course being good natured, especially towards animals in trouble (Wonderpets was his favorite show when he was a little kid), he went to investigate.Around the bend in his well-worn trail, and in the branches of a blackberry bush, was a very angry and very stuck pheasant. </p>
<p>Knowing that the bird wouldn't respond to calming words in its manic state, Scott bit the metaphorical, angry pheasant-shaped bullet and reached into the thorny bush to pull out the bird. It was easier that he thought, not just because the bird had broken most of the thorns in that part of the bush, but because it calmed down when he reached for it. With careful hands, Scott unwound the vines and twigs that were trapping his "patient." With a careful yank, the pheasant was free.</p>
<p>Any normal wild animal would've ran away from a human, and that was doubled true for werewolves. This pheasant, however, was not normal, much like everything else in Beacon Hills. Before it fled, and with what looked like a wink, it plucked out a tail feather and tucked it into Scott's hair.</p>
<p>"Weird," he mused, but continued on his run.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>The Next Morning</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>"Dude, why is there a pheasant feather in the bathroom?" Isaac yelled down the hall, not really waiting for a response before he picked it up. As soon as he did a strange tingle went up his arm.</p>
<p>"It's a long, possibly supernatural, story. Just don't touch it for now," Scott answered from his bedroom down the hall. Isaac, Jackson, and himself had been living together in the McCall house since Melissa traveled to Spain seven months ago to sort out a dynastic dispute. Said dispute, when solved, would make Melissa the Baroness of Castille, an inheritance she didn't even know about because of its improbability.. Until it was solved, she would be in Spain. </p>
<p>"Too late! It felt tingly!" Isaac yelled over the stream of water in the shower. He was happy for Scott and Melissa, and he was also very happy that his werewolf bros (even though they hadn't originally gotten along, the three were thick as thieves) got to live together.</p>
<p>"Will you two stop shouting? I can feel my brain melting, and your yelling isn't helping my migraine!" Jackson didn't care much for their conversation, having gotten magically drunk on Lydia's new batch of absinthe. It tasted like gasoline, but a few sips and you would see gods, most of which you didn't believe in beforehand. The downside was of course that the hangover felt like said gods were beating you to death with baseball bats made of you own limbs. Jackson didn't like that part.</p>
<p>"Sorry Jax," Scott called, opening the bathroom door to grab the feather back before any harm could come. Unfortunately harm had already came, as Isaac laid in the bathtub, sloshing water everywhere, with an erection black with intensity.</p>
<p>"Mm...Scott," Isaac's head rolled on the edge of the tub and he work his shaft. </p>
<p>"Oh my god, Isaac," Scott turned to leave, blushing scarlet.</p>
<p>"No, Scott, don't go...I wanna feel you" the words slurred together as if Isaac was half asleep.</p>
<p>"I really don't think that's the best idea, not now at least." As much as Scott tried to tear his eyes away, something about the throbbing rod, just in arms reach...</p>
<p>"No, Scott, I want you. I've been hiding it, but I can't conceal it anymore, how much I want you," Isaac didn't know why he was so inconsolably horny, and so bold, but he wasn't complaining. Maybe the feather was magic.</p>
<p>As unexpected as it was for Isaac's lucidity to skyrocket to "waxing poetic," a part of Scott was very, very interested, and a different part was very, very hard. He should stop this now, said the rational part of his brain. The other part had been arguing for a few months that he and his housemates should have a threesome. Of course, this is a shameless erotic work, so the latter won.</p>
<p>The first step that Scott took toward the bathtub was shaky, but he shed his shorts and took a deep breath before stepping into the large basin. Isaac opened his legs in invitation and Scott sat against his chest. The first kiss was warm and soft, the second boiling hot. Isaac's massive cock stood at attention, weeping precum into the water and Scott could feel it rubbing against his back as Isaac leaned over him to worry at his collarbone. </p>
<p>If he was being honest with himself, Scott was very aroused by Isaac's height. He liked the way Isaac leaned down just a tiny bit when he whispered secrets, or the way he sprawled out on the couch like a spider when he napped. Scott liked how Isaac wrapped towel low on his hips when he came out of the shower, and the way he flowed through life like a weeping willow. Scott would very much like to be wrapped in Isaac's fronds, but he hasn't been cognizant of it until this moment. </p>
<p>As Isaac splayed his elegant fingers across Scott's chest, kneading his pectorals and scrapping up and down his abs, Scott pushed himself up out of the water and turned to kneel over Isaac. With one hand on the edge of the bath, and one hand working himself open, he became aware of the atmosphere of the room in a new way. Their combined arousal had formed a visible saccharine cloud in the air. The smell was like myrrh, entrapping and alluring, while deceitfully hiding the decay of the tomb. Its maroon tendrils settled to the floor and in the water, coiling and settling in clouds. Whatever magic was at work here was powerful in extreme. </p>
<p>When Scott felt he was loose and grasping, he crawled into Isaac's lap and lowered himself onto the gargantuan tool. He could feel the veins and the slight curve stimulate him in all the right ways, and he moaned deeply, resonant and intense. </p>
<p>"Isaac…oh god, Isaac…" Scott hissed breathlessly, interspersed with moans of increasingly high pitch as he circled his hips and canted forward and back. As their pleasure swelled and encompassed all thought of time drifted away. All that mattered was Scott and Isaac and even that distinction was starting to slip away. The tightness, the stretch, the heat, the pleasure, and the pain all merged together as Isaac lapped at Scott's neck grinning around his tendons. He was too far gone, searching only for release. With a few weak thrusts Isaac shot a thick yoghurt-esque load deep into Scott's delicate intestinal microbiome, but that guy imbalance was pushed out of mind, if it ever had a foothold to begin with as Scott etched his genetic information onto Isaac's supple body in eggshell white with the force of a biblical flood. Naturally, they both fell asleep immediately afterwards.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>The only words able to accurately describe the scream that tore its way out of Jackson mouth were "operatic" and "unearthly." For a moment Scott assumed that someone had died and it was one of Lydia's decrees of doom.</p>
<p>"What in the actual fuck happened in here? Aside from the obvious!" Jackson demanded, aghast at the mess his friends had made. There was water soaking the floor, the walls were stained a strange shade of pink, and the room smelt of expired meat.</p>
<p>"I found a magic feather." Scott yawned, gesturing vaguely around. Isaac stirred beneath him and stretched.</p>
<p>"Yeah, it makes you really horny if you touch it," Isaac giggled a little, as if he was still working through the after effects. Scott gingerly slid out of the tub, like an eel out of a barrel, a trail of cum dripping after him. Isaac sighed and drained the bath, following him.</p>
<p>"There is no way I'm going to let you two track this...this catastrophe through the house!" Jackson bracketed himself into the door frame. Scott and Isaac pouted but cleaned up to the best of their ability. Sighing, Jackson let them out and groaned at the mess he would inevitably have to clean up. </p>
<p>As he stepped over the puddle to retrieve towels and bleach, Jackson saw of all things, a cockscomb on the counter. Assuming it was safe to touch, Scott did say he found a feather after all, Jackson picked it up, intending to throw it away. When his fingertips made contact however, it was like he had been burnt. Pulling his hand away quickly, Jackson was surprised to see that the cockscomb has disappeared, and his hand hadn't suffered any burns. </p>
<p>"Strange…" he mused as he started to clean.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>That Evening</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>The pack has met up at Allison's house that night for pizza and a movie. She usually hosted more casual gatherings of this sort. It had become a tradition on Saturdays to hang out like this. They all had become closer as the pack got settled in their adult lives, and in doing so, carved a beautiful nook for themselves. Everyone was obviously chattering about the dynastic squabble since Scott broke the news over supper that Melissa had been crowned Baroness Castille. </p>
<p>"So you'll be the baron one day, Scott," Lydia leaned back in her chair primly.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I guess. I didn't even know that mom had that heritage, she never talked about family history much. It's kind of surreal still," he responded, shrugging. Scott had his pack, and they filled his heart up. He was happier than he had ever been.</p>
<p>Lydia smiled. She was happy for Scott, for all of them, really. After the chaos and death of their teenage years, having everyone back home, and more importantly together, gave her hope. She wouldn't have to worry about singing their dirges for many decades to come.</p>
<p>Just as she was about to express her vicariously joy, a horrid retching sound echoed from the living room where Isaac, Stiles and Jackson had gone to play twister. It was quickly followed by Stiles cursing like a sailor.</p>
<p>"Hey, Allison? You might need a new armchair," Isaac called. Lydia could only guess why, but she gave Allison a reassuring look and trying her best not to laugh. Scott's eyes were twinkling, clearly holding back a giggle.</p>
<p>Jackson had spray paint vomited a virulent mix of pizza and caramel apple all over the armchair, and it was starting to ooze onto the floor. Of course, Allison didn't find it nearly as funny as Stiles and Isaac, but they stopped giggling when Derek growled from the dining room.</p>
<p>They split into two groups, one to clean up the living room consisting of Allison, Scott, and Isaac, and one to take Jackson home and put him into bed, consisting of Lydia , Derek, and Stiles.</p>
<p>Team living room finished their endeavor in a short amount of time, and started watching the famous musical Fiddler on the Roof, despite Isaac's protest of "Three hours‽ Are you insane?"</p>
<p>Team Jackson was not so lucky. Not only was Jackson cranky when he was sick, he was needy. After drawing straws Derek was assigned as the convalescence cuddle buddy.</p>
<p>"How are you feeling Jax? Any better?" Derek asked as he walked into the dim room.</p>
<p>The response that wiggled its way out from the mess of pillows and sheets they had wrapped Jackson in was no more than a grunt and a shuffling so that when Derek laid down he could curl around his bedmate more efficiently.</p>
<p>"Ok then," Derek smiled a little. Jackson was generally the most, if not proper, professional of their little ménage a… Derek hadn't taken the time to count, but it was in fact a ménage a sept, a household of seven. There was nothing like the closeness of a family, especially one that you've had to fight this hard to build, he mused as he climbed into the bed and wrapped an arm around Jackson.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>The Next Morning</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>Derek felt the thrashing before he heard the whimpers. Jackson had been having nightmares for a few weeks now, mainly revolving around a dark hiberan forest. He'd described them multiple times, but while the overall theme changed, the setting stayed the same.</p>
<p>"Jax. Jackson, wake up," Derek said softly. As he talked he shook Jackson's shoulder a little.</p>
<p>"Hmm...what? Oh, Derek," Jackson mumbled slowly waking up. He fluttered his eyes, clearing away the remnants of a dream.</p>
<p>"Do you want to talk about it?" Derek asked, rubbing Jackson's back.</p>
<p>"Actually yeah. It was different then usually. I mean the forest was the same, towering pines that filtered out the moonlight, snow gently swirling. Its a beautiful place, but I know I'm not safe. I turn around, and I see foot prints behind me. They aren't mine, they are bird claws." Jackson shuddered a bit and curled closer to Derek. </p>
<p>"It's okay, Jax. It was just a dream," Derek, for his part, had really worked on his emotional intelligence, and that allowed him intimate knowledge of his pack-mate's inner turmoil.</p>
<p>"I know. Anyway, I look around and I hear a rustle behind me. I look but there's nothing there. I start to walk through the trees, looking for the forest edge, and I hear a rustle behind me again. That's when I start to run. I never see the thing, but it's always behind me, never stopping, never tiring, never catching me." Jackson sat up a big higher and laid his head on Derek's shoulder.</p>
<p>"If it never catches you, then why does it scare you? Maybe if you figure out what the dream means, you won't have it," Derek puts an arm around Jackson's shoulders.</p>
<p>"I'm scared because of where I end up. The thing doesn't try to catch me, because it's herding me. I always end in a clearing. It's always the same clearing, with the same necrophagous effigy and the same shrine built around it. It's like the thing is playing with me." Jackson pulled a little closer to Derek, and looked up at him. Despite having just squeezed himself as close as possible, Jackson scrambled back across the bed.</p>
<p>"What's wrong?" Derek's voice was full of concern.</p>
<p>"Nothing's wrong. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so close," Jackson blushes, not much but even a slight pink was jarring on his deathly pallid face.</p>
<p>"Jax, you're pale as a bone, and freezing!" Derek pulled him back against his chest, as if he could cuddle warmth back into him. Lydia would know what happened.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>Three minutes later</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>"Derek, was he this cold last night?" Lydia asked, voice heavy with serious concern.</p>
<p>"No, he actually looked better. I only noticed now because he practically kept away from me and I could feel the cold spot he left," Derek and Stiles stood at the end of the bed watching as Lydia wrapped fleeces and comforters around Jackson. His temperature was almost 74°F, fatal for a human, and almost the same for a wolf. </p>
<p>"There is no way a perfectly healthy werewolf would get hypothermia in the middle of September, especially not over night when he was sleeping under two blankets and with another werewolf. Stiles, bring me my duffle bag," Lydia's voice audibly switched from concern to calculation as Stiles handed her the requested luggage. She had gotten a bag for each of the three caretakers last night. Scott and Isaac had slept at Allison's so they could leave for a day trip early the next day, so the house was quiet.</p>
<p>"Is he gonna be okay?" Stiles asked, biting his nails. Jackson hadn't been exceptionally close to him, but he was still part of the pack, and that meant Stiles loved him like a brother.</p>
<p>Lydia didn't answer as she found what she was looking for and starting flipping through it. She pulled an archaic blue-brass book out of the bag. It's front cover had a worn Latin inscription and a chickens foot burnt into it. Above that, it read in gold letters "Peregrine Folio." When she found what she was looking for, she waved them over.</p>
<p>"Look at this page. It's a rite to cure the poison of an ice vulture, and the symptoms of said poison. Look familiar?" Lydia pointed to a small list of symptoms including: reluctance towards physical contact, fatally low body temperature, vomiting, etc.</p>
<p>"So we know what we have to do. Where do we start?" Derek asked, trying to take charge. In reality he was terrified of losing Jackson, no matter how much of an ass he could be.</p>
<p>"I need a candle and basil," Lydia rummaged in her bag and pulled out a small vial of white petals. Stiles knew where the emergency storage was so he went to retrieve a candle, and Derek searched the spice cabinet.</p>
<p>"I hope this works," he muttered as he handed Lydia the bottle of leaves. She ignored him and started to carve something into the candle. As she lit it she sprinkled the white flowers into the flame.</p>
<p>"Stiles, write down Jackson's full name on this basil leaf while I start the incantation." Her orders were followed. As Stiles handed her the inked leaf, he felt a strange shift in the air, almost like he was a few inches left of where he was supposed to be. Lighting the basil leaf, Lydia put the candle aside. Just as the last remnants of it caught fire, she shoved it into Jackson's mouth.</p>
<p>All at once the color returns to his cheeks and his breathing became much deeper. </p>
<p>"That was absolutely horrible," Jackson groaned as he turned over in the bed. As scary as the situation has been, he was safe, and the four of them were all grateful. Lydia decided that he needed to rest and fight off the rest of the poison, and Stiles wanted to know why she had a spell book. Of course the answer was "all in due time,” as that would be an excessively long digression at the moment.</p>
<p>"Derek, can you wait for a minute?" Jackson called as his packmates were leaving.</p>
<p>"Sure Jax," Derek walked back to the bedside.</p>
<p>"When you woke me up, I was so happy. I was so happy to be next to you, and I wasn't sure if I deserved it, because as much I love you, I love you a lot more, and almost dying made me realize that," Jackson stared up for what felt like a millennia to Derek, but was actually less than a second, and pulled him down into a gentle, soft, silky, dry in a satisfying way kiss. It melted Derek's heart like cotton candy into water, and he felt himself slide back into bed with Jackson. It was as if they were made to fit together, in hindsight.</p>
<p>"I love you, too Jax."</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>Meanwhile on a flight to Barcelona</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>Scott's phone was turned off, he was positive. How then, he asked himself, was it ringing and why did no one else hear it?</p>
<p>"Hello?" He answered though he wasn't sure the impending conversation was even possible.</p>
<p>"You have become the very thing you're ancestor was destroyed for. I wanted him, but no one listens to the forest hag. They were much to obsessed with their circumnavigation and their Iberian union to bother with an old soothsayer. Mayhaps Hexenschloss will serve you better anyway. Farewell, little Baron Lobo. I'll see you soon…" the voice which answered sounded less like a voice and more like rustling leaves. </p>
<p>Scott, however he was content to blame the impossible call on jet lag.</p>
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